Of great concern to motor vehicle safety on highways is the loss of wheels and wheel assemblies from all types of trucks, tractors, trailers and even cars, since these wheels and wheel assemblies can cause serious injury to property and personal injury and death. Despite efforts to address this problem by increased maintenance and enforcement of safety regulations, the problem still exists. There is a need for a device which would prevent wheels and wheel assemblies from flying off vehicles even in the event of axle breakage or other mechanical failure which would otherwise cause a wheel or wheel assembly to fly off of the vehicle.
A device for preventing wheels or wheel assemblies from accidentally flying off of moving vehicles is needed to remedy this serious problem. Prior art patents have addressed the prevention of theft of wheels (U.S. Pat. No. 2,647,763 issued Aug. 4, 1953) and the prevention of damage to cars in parking lots due to opening doors of adjacent cars (U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,923, issued Aug. 2, 1994; U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,765, issued Feb. 19, 1991). However, these patents do not disclose a device for preventing wheels or wheel assemblies from flying off of moving vehicles in the event of mechanical failure.
The present invention provides a wheel retainer device which may be used for any type of vehicle and in particular any type of truck to prevent wheels or wheel assemblies from flying off of moving vehicles in the event of axle breakage or other failure which causes wheels or wheel assemblies to fly off of the axle. The wheel retainer of the present invention is adaptable for most types of vehicles and in the preferred embodiments a movable or removable retaining bar allows easy access to wheels or wheel assemblies when wheel maintenance, removal and/or installation is desired.
The wheel retainer of the present invention has been further adapted for the front wheels of a vehicle, particularly the tractor of a tractor-trailer unit, to act as an indicator device which warns the driver of the vehicle that the wheel or wheel assembly is loose and at risk of falling or flying off of the vehicle.